George Ivanoff – Author

Out and about

Posted on November 30, 2011 by George

It has been a busy couple of months with lots of book signings, speaking gigs and other writing related outings. The definite highlights were the two school literary festivals — Yarra Valley Grammar on 20 October and the Catholic College Bendigo on 25 November. I love doing school visits. They are a great opportunity to speak with kids and teens — the audience that I write for. And it’s wonderful to see them getting enthusiastic about reading and writing. The festival in Bendigo made it into the local paper…

I also attended a couple of recent awards ceremonies. The first was for YABBA — the Young Australians’ Best Book Awards. These are a set of children’s choice awards. The second was the Children’s Charity Network’s Young Australian Art & Writers’ Awards. My thanks to the organisers of both events for inviting me along.

I’ve just finished judging the St Leonard’s College Writing Competition. It was an honour to get to read all the wonderful stories written by both primary and secondary school students. Judging is a tough gig! All the entrants deserve congratulations and I really wish that I could award prizes to all of them… but a winner needs to be chosen. And that’s a hard decision to make.

There are still more events lined up for the rest of this year and into 2012. But more on them later.

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Education Writing

Posted on October 31, 2011 by George

I do a lot of writing for the primary school education market, for publication both in Australia and overseas. In fact, I’m currently working on a new set of readers at Prep and Grade 1 level for Singapore. Very short word count and specific topics make them quite a challenge to write. But I love writing them. They are fun and the variety of topics that I get to write about keeps me interested.

My most recently complete education title was a piece of historical fiction. Written for the US market, Miracle on the Hudson is about the 2009 crash landing of a passenger plane in the Hudson River. A really interesting topic to research and then write about.

My most recently published education titles were also for the US market. Mom’s New Cell Phone and Paul Bunyan were published by Red Wings Learning in August this year.

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Fairfield Books signing – Sat 29 Oct

Posted on October 27, 2011 by George

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Reviews

Posted on September 26, 2011 by George

Gamers’ Challenge got reviewed in the Herald Sun Weekend! And it was a positive review.

Getting a review in a major, high circulation newspaper like the Herald Sun is great. It brings my book to the attention of many more people… especially parents buying books as presents for their kids. But Gamers’ Challenge has also been getting good reviews on various websites (like The Compulsive Reader and Kids’ Book Capers) and in subscription mags (like Aurealis Xpress and Buzz Words). So a BIG thank you to all those reviewers.

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Dymocks signing – Sat 24 Sept

Posted on September 23, 2011 by George

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Michael Pryor launches Gamers’ Challenge

Posted on September 20, 2011 by George

On Saturday 17 September 2011, Gamers’ Challenge was officially launched. Many thanks to Ford Street Publishing for organising the event and to Michael Pryor (author of The Laws of Magic) for launching the book. If you’d like to see Michael delivering his eloquent launch speech, check out the video below.

While the video camera happily captured the whole of Michael’s speech, it ran out of memory just as I started mine. That’s why there’s only that short snippet at the end. Mind you, I think it works.

If you’d like to see some photos from the event, check out the event page on the official Gamers website.

And don’t forget, I’ll be doing a signing very soon at Dymocks in Southland. Come along so I don’t get too lonely. Details as follows:

Dymocks Southland, Cheltenham
(Level 3, opposite the food court)
Saturday 24 September
12noon–1.30pm

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Official Launch of Gamers’ Challenge

Posted on September 9, 2011 by George

Gamers’ Challenge hit the bookstore shelves on the 1st of this month. But the official launch celebration will be held on Saturday 17 September from 12.30pm at the Richmond Library in Victoria. The book will be launched by Michael Pryor, acclaimed author of The Laws of Magic and all-round nice guy.

There will be a couple of speeches, a reading and some drinks and nibblies. Want to come along? Simply email Ford Street Publishing — info@fordstreetpublishing.com

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Gamers’ Challenge book trailer

Posted on September 6, 2011 by George

It is with great excitement that I present for your viewing pleasure the Gamers’ Challenge book trailer…

HUGE thanks to Henry Gibbens for putting the trailer together. I love the trailer he made for Gamers’ Quest, but he’s taken things a step further with this new one, adding a level of dynamism. My thanks also to my brother-in-law, Marc Valko. He took the theme he composed for the first book, upped the energy and give it a wonderful techno feel for the new book. I’m very lucky to have such talented collaborators.